I tend to disagree a little with occam logic regarding his...

I tend to disagree a little with occam logic regarding his criticism of VHY and HVST, although he is technically correct on the details of capital losses (i.e. SP drops) offsetting dividend yield gains.

it depends on your overall duration of investment and risk vs growth appetite.

I invested 10k in VHY following brexit at around $56 and it sits today at $57.23. Therefore I'm sitting on a 2% capital gain and the underlying yield. The VHY share price is coming off a downtrend from $70 to around $50. If you had bought in at $50 in feb, you would be sitting on a 15% SP gain in 6months, on top of your dividends.

Assuming the short term market fears abate, this stock will then likely increase SP value as many of its holdings are at attractive prices after their long fall, particularly the banks. given the recent changes to super this weekend combined with low interest rates on savings and term deposits and dropping bond yields, i suspect many people will select this low cost way of building an income stream via a diversified equity portfolio.

A couple of years from now, when the SP is back to $70 or above, and you have been making 6-10% dividends, you may be happy with your choice.

Thats why i bought in. Its the defensive part of my diversified equity portfolio, in the meantime I can focus my attention on hunting for small to mid cap growth shares which i have recently bought.

My other recommendations for yield plus SP growth are:
- CWP
- FXL